Allright, time to put some pictures out there.

This is the my Tau board that I was working on for about six months before I got it done, putting in an hour or two a day after work. The purpose was to create an open and stylish board giving you a cinematic feeling when gaming, and also reflect the style and architecture of an urban tau environment. I'm thinking of including another building in there. Maybe something low to break it up, since all the buildings are pretty tall. A landing pad maybe ...

The buildings and board were made of foam, different pieces sandpapered to the desired shape, then glued together and I used filler and sandpaper to get a smooth surface. Those babies took a long time to make.

So here we go:




















So next up I have some pictures of my cadre. I recently finished my commander and bodyguard and a couple of broadsides and will post pictures as soon as I have the time to take them.




















Allright thats it, hope you guys like my work!

Juam,

This is all really excellent work! I'm glad to see someone out there has a passion for their gaming surface which matches the care with which they paint their minis! Way to go, all your time and effort in this really shows!

I'd love to build something as equally awesome as what you have done here, this will certainly help with the "can I do it?" question.

Keep us posted on that landing pad! If you think of it, take a few snaps of your progress too! I am positive it will be appreciated.

modelglue

Your terrain/board is awesome. I love that it isn't a forest or rubble but an alien city with differing height levels. Really immersive.

Great work.

From what I can see, this must truly be the most inspiring Tau gaming board I have ever seen, and I'm quite jealous of it! I especially like that you did the entire flooring, since it really completes the buildings. usually people just place a lot of buildings on a sand base, but this... like a movie scene could be filmed there!
Could you post a shot of the entire table for us? would be much clearer to admire, I imagine
Kern

I have to echo all of the positive comments made by the guys. That really is an amazing board and terrain. I love how you've built and painted the buildings. Truly inspirational.

Let's not forget your models though! Great job all round.

Your board is great, Juam.
But the way you made the photos is totally amazing !!

Some of the pictures would fit perfectly into an art exhibition !

Wow, the board is very well done!
You've really captured the tau style..
But it looks way too clean, needs some color and variation to break it up..
At the momement it looks like a black and white comic book.

What about adding blue details in the same color as your army?
Perhaps the ground could be a bit more dirty, with patches of dirt/sand caught around the base of the buildings.

omg its epic, do like, and as you say if you some lower pieces too it will be even better.

absolutly fantastic!

I can not describe with words what I feel, when I look at these pictures. It's so.... fantastic.

A really nice army, and really nice painted. But this city is absolutly amazing. I like it really and I would like to see more pictures! It's bookmarked.

~Chris

Wow thank you all! Appreciate it a lot!

I drew the inspiration from the artwork in the codex. I remember when I first saw the artwork, I was blown away. I was like "I want these buildings ... in my house!" I waited a long time though before actually taking it on to build it. Also, I never build anything unless I have a vision, that is, I must have a mental picture of how I want the end result to look. When I can look at the building from different angles, spin it around and flip it upside down in my mind, that's when I start building.

Also I really take pleasure in the process of building it ... most of the time. Put on some trance music, max up the volume and just go for it!

Modelglue:

I think I'm gonna go with the landing pad, been thinking about it for some time now. I think It'll be a good contrast to all the tall structures. Could be fun to play too, themed battle report maybe, like the evacuation of Syl'kell. Just need to find time to do it, right now I'm finishing off my cities of death board so that'll keep me busy for a while.

Definitely gonna post some progress pictures on that one. My technique is very stright forward; cut out the pieces from foam and sandpaper them to the desired shape, glue them together, apply filler and then sandpaper it to death. I use three layers of filler to get the smooth surface. Then a couple coats of water with PVA glue to make the surface harder, then paint. The palette is just black, bleached bone/skull white, skull white and then graveyard earth/camo green for the weather effects.

Seiseki:

It is meant to look sterile and with little colour, cause that is how tau cities look in my mind. In hindsight though, maybe I could have added some battle damage, could be a nice little extra touch.

I like the idea of sand cought around the bases. If you make it look like grey thin dust it would probably be cool. Question is, is it doable right now, the buildings are movable but not attached to bases.


Thanks again guys! Have a good one!

This is beautiful! Truly a board to be proud of and something that would be fun to play on. Modular is really the theme of Tau engineering and you pulled it off well.

Are you going to add anymore buildings? I know you mentioned a landing pad, but what about something that would give the Tau a little "home field advantage?" I'm thinking some kind of little Drone dispenser or maybe small, defensible positions that Firewarriors can use. Maybe something specifically designed to give cover to an XV8 as it would hop around the city?

Again, fantastic work! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks!

I'm gonna start with the landingpad, then we'll see if I need anything more, it depends on how it functions when I play. When it comes to defensive positions I'm not sure. In the fluff we understand that the Tau rarely construct defensive positions, so I think that if I make buildings that are defensible and have cover, it must be because the layout of the building just happened to give cover. That's what I'm going with right now.

Btw, I read up on your history of Raivath and the Shadow Guardians, real cool and impressive The effort shows. Kind of makes me want to create my own fluff, since I have none for my own cadre, except that I have written the names of every model on their bases.

Thanks a lot for posting this, it’s very inspirational! I really enjoyed your take on what a Tau city looks like. I love all of the small architectural details that you have incorporated into the structures. I have been thinking about making something similar for quite a while myself. Whenever I get around to doing my own version of a Tau city, I will be using yours as a major source of inspiration for it. I would also like to see a wide angle shot showing the entire table. How big is the table?

While I agree with you about how a tau city should look a little sterile, this is a city and not a military base. I think that they would have some sort of vegetation incorporated into it somehow. Any Tau city would have to include a large number of Earth caste, and I think that they would want an artistic garden of some sort. I am thinking along the lines of a small garden with a high wall around it or possibly even a greenhouse of some sort. Even just a rock garden would help to add a little variety to the composition of the city. A fountain would also look nice, and would fit nicely with the fluff surrounding the Water caste. Anyway my point is that a city should reflect all of Tau society, and not just the somewhat Spartan attitudes of the Fire caste.

Good point about the Tau defensive structures. But I imagine that there would be some kind of defenses put in place; something that the Tau can use as a stall tactic.

Oh and thank you for the compliment! I have taken a little break from 40K, but I am slowly getting back into it. These types of comments help! I'd love to read some of your background!

This is fantastic - a great background for the Tau to fight on and not just the standard ruined city/woods type board.

Well done - I want one too but would not know where to start

and the figures look great too!

i liked the fire warrior commander. sweet.

Absolutely gorgeous work. I reserve my adjectives for posts such as these. Inspirational table indeed.

Do you have any small item terrain pieces finished as yet? Crates, detritus etc?

Cadre looks good, particularly a fan of the Shas'Ui helmet idea.

- Tael.

Thanks for the compliments!

Some of you have asked for wide angle pictures, of course I'll take some for you guys. Right now though I'm using my cityfight board and my Tau board is in the closet, so next time I set it up I'll take some shots and post them for you.



Thanks for the input buddy! This gave me a few ideas. I have a weird kind of idea on how to incorporate some vegitaiton into the city, I might just post a concept drawing of it, as soon as I have developed my idea a little further, although my drawing skill are so so. Hmm, a rock garden ... I believe that idea has potential. If you make the garden contained within a building I think it could integrate nicely. I didn't really think of it but after reading your post, of course a tau city would be designed with more than the fire caste in mind.


El'mo:

Thanks man! If you want to build something similar feel free to ask whatever about my technique. In fact, as soon as I'm finished with the current building for my cityfight board I'll start working on the landing pad, I'll post in progress puctures so anyone can follow the process from start to finish.


Tael:

Thanks, appreciate it. Smaller terrain pieces ... I just have no idea what they would look like. I spent so much time imagining these big buildings that I gave little thought to anything else. As soon as I have any idea of what it could look like then I could build it. There is just no idea right now. Suggestions?


Wolf:

I also really like the models of the Shadow guardians, see some resourceful conversions there. would love to see a batrep with them sometime. Glad that you would want to read my background, but I'm afraid there isn't any right now. I just have no idea where to start.

Hmmm, well VetSgt touched on it a little. The idea of monuments, artwork and gardens seem ideal for the Tau. The various castes within a city expressing themselves and providing sanctuaries for introspection and serenity. I suspect anything drawn from Zen Gardens, tea houses and gardens of the Japanese and Chinese would be good sources of inspiration.

Modern art pieces abstract or intricate would be good details.

Essentially the Tau strike me as a people who are proud of what they build and when they have the neighbours over for lunch are more than insistant that the visitors see the latest esplanade/garden/monument/Shas Training dome. Certainly to show their prowess and power, but also a sense of pride in what the Tau'va can achieve.

Certainly a more ethos orientated reply, rather than describing objects directly, but I hope it offers a point of view when approaching the beautification of the city.

Counter to this is the idea that parts of a city may "lockdown and hideaway" to provide the Shas with a better environment to defend/counter attack intruders through.

- Tael.

You have absolutely no idea how much you have inspired me.